Thou wouldst not: do not mock me then, Saying out of evil heart, in evil jest, Thy trust is dead to meward.
ESTRILD.
King of men, Wouldst thou, being only of all men lordliest, Be lord of women's thoughts and loving fears?
Nay, wert thou less than lord of worlds and years, Of stars and suns and seasons, couldst thou dream To take such empire on thee?
LOCRINE.
Nay, not I -
No more than she there playing beside the stream To slip within a stormier stream and die.
ESTRILD.
She runs too near the brink.Sabrina!
LOCRINE.
See, Her hands are lily-laden: let them be A flower-sweet symbol for us.
Enter SABRINA.
SABRINA.
Sire! O sire, See what fresh flowers--you knew not these before -The spring has brought, to serve my heart's desire, Forth of the river's barren bed! no more Will I rebuke these banks for sterile sloth When spring restores the woodlands.By my troth, I hoped not, when you came again, to bring So large a tribute worth so full a smile.
LOCRINE.
Child! how should I to thee pay tribute?
ESTRILD.
King, Thou hast not kissed her.
LOCRINE.
Dare my lips defile Heaven? O my love, in sight of her and thee I marvel how the sun should look on me And spare to turn his beams to fire.
ESTRILD.
The child Hears, and is troubled.
SABRINA.
Did I wrong, to say 'Sire?' but you bade me say so.He is mild, And will not chide me.Father!
ESTRILD.
Hear'st thou?
LOCRINE.
Yea -
I hear.I would the world beyond our sight Were dead as worlds forgotten.
ESTRILD.
Wouldst thou fright Her?
LOCRINE.
Hath all sense forsaken me? Sabrina, Thou dost not fear me?
SABRINA.
No.But when your eyes Wax red and dark, with flaughts of fire between, I fear them--or they fright me.
LOCRINE.
Wert thou wise, They would not.Never have I looked on thee So.
SABRINA.
Nay--I fear not what might fall on me.
Here laughs my father--here my mother smiles -Here smiles and laughs the water--what should IFear?
LOCRINE.
Nought more fearful than the water's wiles -Which whoso fears not ere he fear shall die.
SABRINA.
Die? and is death no less an ill than dread?
I had liefer die than be nor quick nor dead.
I think there is no death but fear of death.
LOCRINE.
Of death or life or anything but love What knowest thou?
SABRINA.
Less than these, my mother saith -
Less than the flowers that seeing all heaven above Fade and wax hoar or darken, lose their trust And leave their joy and let their glories rust And die for fear ere winter wound them: we Live no less glad of snowtime than of spring:
It cannot change my father's face for me Nor turn from mine away my mother's.King They call thee: hath thy kingship made thee less In height of heart than we are?
LOCRINE.
No, and yes.
Here sits my heart at height of hers and thine, Laughing for love: here not the quiring birds Sing higher than sings my spirit: I am here Locrine, Whom no sound vexes here of swords or words, No cloud of thought or thunder: were my life Crowned but as lord and sire of child and wife, Throned but as prince of woodland, bank and bower, My joys were then imperial, and my state Firm as a star, that now is as a flower.
SABRINA.
Thou shouldst not then--if joy grow here so great -Part from us.
LOCRINE.
No: for joy grows elsewhere scant.
SABRINA.
I would fain see the towers of Troynovant.
LOCRINE.
God keep thine eyes fulfilled with sweeter sights, And this one from them ever!
SABRINA.
Why? Men say Thine halls are full of guests, princes and knights, And lordly musters of superb array;Why are we thence alone, and alway?
ESTRILD.
Peace, Child: let thy babble change its note, or cease Here; is thy sire not wiser--by God's grace -Than I or thou?
LOCRINE.
Wouldst thou too see fulfilled The fear whose shadow fallen on joy's fair face Strikes it more sad than sorrow's own? Estrild, Wast thou then happier ere this wildwood shrine Hid thee from homage, left thee but Locrine For worshipper less worthy grace of thee Than those thy sometime suppliants?
ESTRILD.
Nay; my lord Takes too much thought--if tongues ring true--for me.
LOCRINE.
Such tongues ring falser than a broken chord Whose jar distunes the music.
ESTRILD.
Wilt thou stay But three nights here?
LOCRINE.
I had need be hence today.
ESTRILD.
Go.
SABRINA.
But I bid thee tarry; what am I
That thou shouldst heed not what I bid thee?
LOCRINE.
Queen And empress more imperious and more high And regent royaller than time hath seen And mightier mistress of thy sire and thrall:
Yet must I go.But ere the next moon fall Again will I grow happy.
ESTRILD.
Who can say?
LOCRINE.
So much can I--except the stars combine Unseasonably to stay me.
ESTRILD.
Let them stay The tides, the seasons rather.Love! Locrine!
I never parted from thee, nor shall part, Save with a fire more keen than fire at heart:
But now the pang that wrings me, soul and sense, And turns fair day to darkness deep as hell, Warns me, the word that seals thy parting hence -'Farewell'--shall bid us never more fare well.
SABRINA.
Lo! she too bids thee tarry; dost thou not Hear?
LOCRINE.
Might I choose, small need were hers, God wot, Or thine, to bid me tarry.When I come Again -SABRINA.
Thou shalt not see me: I will hide From sight of such a sire--or bow down dumb Before him--strong and hard as he in pride -And so thou shalt not hear me.
LOCRINE.
Who can tell?
So now say I.
ESTRILD.
God keep my lord!
LOCRINE.
Farewell.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.--Troynovant.A Room in the Palace.
Enter GUENDOLEN and MADAN.
GUENDOLEN.
Come close, and look upon me.Child or man, -I know not how to call thee, being my child, Who know not how myself am called, nor can -God witness--tell thee what should she be styled Who bears the brand and burden set on her That man hath set on me--the lands are wild Whence late I bade thee hither, swift of spur As he that rides to guard his mother's life;Thou hast found nought loathlier there, nought hate-fuller In all the wilds that seethe with fluctuant strife, Than here besets thine advent.Son, if thou Be son of mine, and I thy father's wife -MADAN.
If heaven be heaven, and God be God.
GUENDOLEN.
As now We know not if they be.Give me thine hand.
